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Category: SFO

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it will probably be miserable to fly in or out of SFO in the next few months, and there already have been severe delays and cancellations.

SFO is rehabilitating its second longest runway over the course of three months. They are repaving, upgrading the runway lights, realigning the runways and adding a secondary taxiway. I read that the amount of paving done is equal to about 8 miles of a four- lane highway!

They are doing construction on the weekends, yes the weekends (!) and there have been hundreds of flight cancelations so far. I was flying from Burbank to SFO a few weeks ago and was delayed 3 hours! They are also diverting flights to Oakland. My poor friend was trying to get home from LAX after visiting her son at college, and not only had to wait for hours but had to fly into Oakland instead.

I heard through the grapevine that construction is affecting short haul flights the most, but I suggest you be prepared for delays no matter what. The biggest problem will be if you need to make a connection. In the last few years, airlines have been shortening their minimum connecting times. I regularly see schedules with connections of less than 40 minutes! I don’t know about you, but this makes me really nervous and I always look for something longer. I’d rather have my clients spending more time in Dallas or Denver than scrambling to try and make their flight and then missing it. There’s enough stress in flying these days!

The bottom line is that if you’re flying on a weekend in the next few months departing on time will be an absolute crapshoot. Here is the official construction schedule. And, I think we all better be prepared to have it go longer than anticipated. All I can say is, keep calm, bring plenty to read or watch, and good luck!

Friday, May 5th at 6:00pm PST through Sunday, May 7th at 12:00noon PST
Friday, May 12th at 6:00pm PST through Monday, May 15th at 12:00noon PST
Friday, May 19th at 6:00pm PST through Monday, May 22nd at 12:00noon PST
Friday, June 2nd at 6:00pm PST through Monday, June 5th at 12:00noon PST
Friday, June 9th at 6:00pm PST through Monday, June 12th at 12:00noon PST